China to continue security supplies to aid Afghan peace: Xi

President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai arrives in Ufa ahead of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Ufa, Russia on 9 July 2015 [PPIO]

As US forces begin withdrawing from the war-torn country, China on Friday said security ties with Afghanistan is in the interests of both nations.

“Increasing security cooperation suits both countries’ interests,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday in Russia.

The two countries share a 91-kilometer (57-mile) mountainous border near Pakistan and Tajikistan.

Xi met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the Russian city of Ufa on Friday.

“China will continue to supply Afghanistan with security supplies, technology, equipment and training assistance,” Xi added.

No details were revealed including involvement of the People’s Liberation Army in providing additional support.

Afghanistan is seeking stability as the U.S. reduces the number of troops in the country over the next few years to a small number of military training personnel and counter-terrorism forces.

The new Afghan president Ghani chose China for his first state visit after he took office last month.

Chinese President Xi had last year called the former World Bank economist, who used to travel to China frequently, an “old friend” and said at their summit in October that it marked a new era in ties between two countries.

China has growing interests in Afghanistan, which offers a possible route to the sea from China’s landlocked west.

A Chinese company owns the rights to one of Afghanistan’s biggest investment pledges to date — a stalled $3 billion copper mining project south of Kabul.

Some of the most significant investment projects in the country have been put on hold partly because of militant violence.

Foreign aid still provides for about two-thirds of Afghanistan’s budget.

 

TBP and Agencies